And, in case anyone has followed this whole saga, here is my latest: I do not miss the emotiva. I started listening to the music more than analyzing the sound last night. I think the denon somehow does a great job running all the speakers. I listened to several m/c sacd's and they sounded great. My take on the amp thing is to get more oopmph, turn up the denon volume. I really thought I'd miss the emotiva, but I don't. I wish I knew what a fine 2 channel amp would sound like, but I am going to be fine without it. If anyone is going down this path, I'd suggest they stick to axiom amps (we know the axiom quality and customer service and they will surely play well together) or demo some locally. In the end, I guess it is a personal issue, but the expense, in my system anyway, is too much for too little gain. I don't know what I am missing, but I'm now thinking that on my budget it's probably not worth worrying over. To my ears, the denon/axiom sounds great. I'm sure upgrade-itis will still rear its ugly head, but maybe I can just live vicariously and enjoy what others find in their pursuits of better sound. Thanks for all the help.

Laura, sorry I missed this earlier. I have an Emo MPS-1 amp and now that I've got the bugs worked out, I'm a happy camper. Most of the bugs were due to other problems, but I didn't find the one Emo problem until I fixed the others. Before I put the sound system together, I decided to go "green" throughout the house and I installed compact fluoros. When I put the sound system in the buzz/humm was deafening. I tracked most of the humm to the ground screw on the EP500. The next biggest humm came from a ground loop issue with the cable for the TV. One of Axioms isolators did the trick there. Then I figured out that the compact fluoros in the room (and a few others on the same circuit) were the last cause. THEN I found the problem with an Emo amp module. Not a humm or buzz, but more like a lit fuse; a sort of crackling hiss. Emo took care of this without question.

Laura, your room looks like an oasis of sound. I would make one suggestion that should cost less than the Emotiva amp, but ask that other comment before you would act, as I am no expert. But the hardwood walls and glass are the likely cause of your dissatisfaction. They look great - I love wood - but you are getting reflections going that won't end any time soon. My suggestion: consider putting a heavy drapes along each wall. you can open them when you want, but during critical listening, they will keep the image clear. Cost is dependant on style and DIY skill, but for less than a new or used amp I think you could up your sound quality dramatically.

Hopefully other will jump in, but you have the makings a great oasis, but you are dealing with a room almost as active as the hypothetical cement bunker used to explain echos and reflections. But a new amp won't fix this. You have to kill the reflections and the improvement will floor you.

Never mind, I figured it out. My math was waaaay off. Upon further calculation, it looks like the real problem is the glass of wine. By my estimation, it is about 76.84% too full. Correct that, rinse and repeat, and the problem should be fixed.

Never mind, I figured it out. My math was waaaay off. Upon further calculation, it looks like the real problem is the glass of wine. By my estimation, it is about 76.84% too full. Correct that, rinse and repeat, and the problem should be fixed.

Worked at my house anyway!

Ha! I agree and I like the rinse and repeat remedy - will try that tonight. Glad you noticed - funny that made it into the pic! Laura

As someone who has followed Laura's posts on AVS as well as here, I have to give a big group hug to everyone here who tried to help out.

While the AVS Forum quickly devolved into an argument about amplifier quality and then split into fifteen different unrelated discussions, you guys actually worked through and tried to help Laura solve the problem.

Laura - for what it's worth, I think you made the right decision and should be happy that you figured out you don't "need" the amp while you could get rid of it for only the cost of shipping. Plus you now don't have to play the "what if" game with yourself and can be happy knowing you've got a great sound setup. Upgraditis can never truly be cured, but at least you've generated temporary immunity to separate-amps-disease.

Jason

PS: Some of the things I hear about Emotiva's customer support are amazing. "Noise like this is normal in these kinds of amps" What?!